Proper wiring and cable management in building structures is essential to the safe and effective operation of the building's electrical and cabling operation.
When wiring or cabling needs to be protected from potential damage, it can be pulled through various types of conduits. Conduits can be made of metal, rigid plastic (e.g., PVC) and other materials, and wiring or cabling can vary from very thin wires that may be bundled for passage through a conduit to very thick cables that may not be joined to any other wires or cabling when passed through a conduit. For purposes of the present disclosure, the term “cable” or “cabling” may be used throughout the present disclosure to refer to any type of wire, cable or similar elongated element that can be inserted and pulled through a conduit.
While conduit can be lengthy and provided with curves as necessitated by a building's structure, it can be difficult to pull cabling through even short lengths of conduit. Traditionally, tools such as electrician's fish tape have been used to attach to the end of the cable and pull the cable through the conduit. Generally, fish tapes are made of strong material such as steel to support pulling loads, and have a loop on one end to which the end of the cable can be secured. In instances where the cable being pulled is not insulated, or where the insulation has been stripped at the end secured to the fish tape, electrical tape may be applied to the bare segments of the cable. Other methods besides using fish tape, such as pushing or wiggling cable through conduit, for example, have been tried with generally unsatisfactory results.
Unfortunately, the fish tape method and other methods of cable pulling through conduits do not always work properly, and if the fish tape separates from the cable during the process of pulling the cable through the conduit, it can be very difficult to remove the inserted cable to re-start the process. Oftentimes in such situations, the conduit must be removed and/or broken to obtain access to the end of the cable, which can be extremely costly and time-consuming.